Saturday 30th January 2021

Today had another storm / bad weather / heavy wind forecast. The one I didn’t want to be out in the open for. It was a rainy and windy day. Tim went to a good bakery in town with Martin – more insider info. He brought back the yummiest village bread and had eaten a whole one before any of us even got up. Since it was a cold and yucky day I made a yummy vegetable soup and some meatballs.

Michele and his kids came over coffee in the afternoon. We had been in touch with them over messenger. An Australian family that bought a 49 boat in Croatia and sailed it to Turkey to spend the winter in Finike marina. Nina and his daughter Arwin had a play, while the younger son watched some movies and the adults exchanged stories.

In the evening it got really stormy and windy with more thunder and I can’t tell you how glad and grateful I was to be safely tied up in a Marina. It might sound a little over the top, but I am really not enjoying being out at sea or at anchor on those stormy days. And guess what – I had a restful sleep despite the weather, because I knew there was no anchor that could drag or stern lines that could break.

As gray, windy and unpleasant Saturday was, Sunday started bright and sunny and we had a nice, relaxing day ahead. I went to have a long shower with Nina, put more blogs online, sorted images, cleaned our bathrooms. Tim cleaned the dinghy and took our spray dodger down. The clear plastic in our spray dodger was so badly deteriorated that we could barely see through it and no cleaning was making a difference. Tim bought some clear plastic in Marmaris to replace it, but we hadn’t yet found a place to get it done. We were recommended someone in the Marina and he offered a good price, so we thought we might as well do it, as its so much more pleasant to see where you are going when the dodger is up. We often collapse it when we need to see what we are doing all around, so it will be a real treat to have that fixed.

I went to Migros again, which is just outside the Marina to stock up more bulky stuff, as we don’t have to carry it far and drive things around in a dinghy. I got some big bottles of vinegar, olive oil, some more pumpkins (they keep well on the boat and good backup when vegies run low), toilet paper, kitchen rolls etc

.In the evening we had invited Yvette, Martin and Jason over to eat one of our favorite family Meals- Chicken Marbella. Tim was given the recipe by a colleague, who since passed away, many years ago at the newspaper and we have often done it at least once per week, because its one of those things everyone loves. We again had a lovely time together. They brought a yummy cake from a local bakery for dessert, which we all loved. The pastry making in Turkey is astonishingly good. Some of the cakes look like amazing artworks and the one we had that evening was not sickly sweet and so moorishly delicious. We all went happily to bed with full tummies.

The next day was a dull, overcast day. We all had a walk into town with Donna from Intrepid Kiwi, who wanted to show us a few shops she liked. We got a few bits and pieces, like glue for the kids, a muffin tin to double up as a pie tin. Luca has been hanging out for a meat pie for weeks now and can’t find pie tins here. Tim took the spray dodger to the shop to get the clear plastic put in.

That night I didn’t sleep well. I just couldn’t bear the thought of leaving the marina in 2 days time. Everyone was so happy and relaxed. Its a bit like a holiday being in a Marina. The pressure is off Tim too, not having to worry about water making, power limits, anchors, weather, stern lines, dinghying Lucy to shore etc. We all love to just be able to walk off the boat, have hot showers, no limits on data, no limits on water usage and just be stationary and get things organised and cleaned and be able to just stroll to town whenever to get food or whatever we need. It didn’t feel right for me leave already. Also both kids birthdays are in February, so I was really worried we couldn’t make the day special for them and might be all by ourselves in the middle of nowhere in challenging weather. It just didn’t feel right. And best of all there where 2 other kids here. BUT the cost of the marinas is something that usually put us off and why we don’t even think of going into one.

So the next morning I sat my butt down and finished our budget for January. We have a monthly budget that we try to stick to. There where many months when we didn’t manage due to unforeseen repairs and maintenance, residency applications etc. But in January we where really under budget, so I figured we all deserved this break. So I sat down with Tim again and we talked about the pros and cons and decided, yes it was a good thing for everyone to have a break and be able to relax and tackle boat jobs, cleaning and maintenance while here. So off to the Marina office I went and paid the $1,500 for our months stay on top of the $80 per day we had already paid for 5 days. . Hurt a bit to spend that much money, but I am sure we can balance out the budget. Short term Marina stays are always more expensive, but it doesn’t appeal to us to stay for months on end in one place when there is so much to see. We where all happy once the contract was paid and signed and look forward to 4 weeks of more relaxed boat life and missing a few storms and challenging weather patterns.

Tim went back to the Marina shop to pick up our filled Gas bottles, another great thing to get everything filled and stocked up again. He also got the spray dodger back and gosh what a difference it made to be able to actually see forward through clear windows. Yay to have that done. It was something that annoyed us from the beginning and the old plastic wasn’t really recoverable. We where so thrilled and happy with the result.

Yvette had offered to show us the local fruit and vegi market, which is on Tuesdays in Finike. We had avoided them for the last few months due to Covid, but masked up and took our hand sanitizer. It was quite a way to walk, so Yvette offered we could go on their bikes. Nina wanted to come along too. It was a smaller market than Fethiye, but still fabulous. All that fresh produce just makes my heart sing. We even found fresh peas, snow peas and strawberries – not really seasonal, but with all the greenhouses here no problem. After we had filled our bags with goodies we went back to wash and unpack our treasures.

In the evening we where invited to the boat No worries with a family from Australia. Arwin, the daughter is a bit younger than Nina. Nina, Jason and Arwin went off to Arwin’s room to play, while Michele and Tim had a beer upstairs. Annabel showed me and Yvette how to make Chinese noodles and how she uses her pressure cooker. We even got a taster of Anabel’s beef soup to take home to try.

That night I went to sleep peacefully and deeply again, knowing that there was no reason to worry for the next 4 weeks about weather, storms, anchors, stern lines or our safety. Bliss. I am so looking forward to those 4 weeks! This feels like such a big, huge treat.

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